Collaboration

1. Introduction

On March 30, 2025, members of the BNUZH-China HP group attended the Greater Bay Area HP Salon at the Macau University of Science and Technology, organized by iGBA and hosted by Team MUST-Macau. The event centered on the theme of “Two-way Dialogue between Science and Society”, gathering iGEM teams across the Greater Bay Area to exchange ideas and practices in Human Practices.

2. Project Presentation and Engagement

During the salon, BNUZH-China engaged with iGEM ambassadors, liaison officers, and peer teams to present our HP design perspectives, especially in inclusivity, sustainability, and public participation. Guest speakers highlighted milestones of the iGBA Alliance since its foundation in 2023, the importance of biosafety outreach, and the evolving role of Human Practices in linking synthetic biology with ethics, policy, and industry.

Key highlights included:

• Alliance Development: iGBA’s strategic roadmap, cross-team collaboration, and biosafety outreach through social media and white papers.

• Experience Sharing: BNUZH-China 2024’s mangrove-focused HP practices, emphasizing interdisciplinary cooperation and closed-loop stakeholder feedback.

• Future Vision: iGEM liaison officers encouraged early-stage stakeholder engagement, integrating ethical reflection with responsible innovation.

After the formal session, BNUZH-China also exchanged practical insights with teams from Southern Medical University, HKUST (Guangzhou), and Shenzhen University, discussing challenges of community outreach, interdisciplinary teamwork, and identifying social value through stakeholder engagement.

3. Conclusion and Outlook

The Macau HP Salon provided BNUZH-China with valuable perspectives on how to connect synthetic biology with society. It strengthened our understanding of biosafety and ethical frameworks, while reinforcing the importance of public participation and interdisciplinary dialogue. This exchange not only broadened our HP practices but also laid the groundwork for continued collaboration within the iGBA framework, inspiring us to integrate responsible innovation more deeply into our future work.

1. Introduction

On May 17, 2025, BNUZH-China representatives attended the 9th iGEM Southern China Regional Meeting at Shenzhen University's Lihu Campus, hosted by Team SZU-China. This event signified a pivotal moment in fostering regional collaboration and idea exchange within the iGEM community, setting a positive tone for 2025 engagements.

2. Project Presentation and Engagement

On the stage of this exchange event, our team shared the project “iRIS: A Bio Synthesis Ode to Van Gogh’ s Irises” from the “Art & Design” track. During the presentation, we got some suggestions and recognition from the peers and used this opportunity to reflect on the shortcomings, which has provided valuable insights and inspiration for future improvements.

Alongside the presentations, we organized synthetic biology-themed games "gene building" and "code walls" to engage participants, foster creativity, and deepen academic discussions, which helped build connections and encouraged meaningful exchanges.

3. Conclusion and Outlook

The 9th iGEM Southern China Regional Meeting is the first official and large-scale exchange activity of our team in this year. It’s also the first exchange after we decided on the topic and chose the new track ”Art & Design”. It not only forged connections with regional teams, but also established a solid foundation for friendship and academic collaboration. Importantly, the exchange extremely stirred our confidence and our project gained optimization from the suggestions.

Regional Collaboration: Building Connections

As a key point for 2025 collaboration,The 3rd iGEM Greater Bay Area Synthetic Biology Industry-Academic Research Forum (hosted by SUSTech-BIO & HKU) strengthened the foundation for regional academic exchanges:

• Established formal ties with more teams

  We initiated in-depth communications with teams from institutions such as SCAU, MUST,HKUST, and NEFU. These connections enabled subsequent technical discussions and experience sharing, particularly in areas like pigment preservation, color consistency control, and large-scale painting feasibility.We exchanged insights on balancing artistry and synthetic biology fundamentals with peers as well,which prompted us to reflect on unaddressed gaps and adjust our priorities.

• Leveraging Enterprise Expertise for Technical Validation

  We actively engaged with industry representatives to address practical challenges in project implementation, with a focus on technical feasibility and industrial applicability.We shared details of our project with Synbio-Tech (Hongxun Biotechnology Co., Ltd.)(please click in to check up our record in integrated Human Practices page. )

Future Collaboration Outlook

Building on existing progress, we plan to deepen collaboration through targeted initiatives:

• Broaden stakeholder dialogue

  We will engage more experts and enterprises to cover technical, social, and safety dimensions.

  Strengthen AI safety and iHP collaboration: In response to iGEM’s growing focus on AI safety, we will collaborate with modeling and ethics teams to document AI risk mitigation strategies and integrate iHP principles into project updates. We are looking forward to the CCiC meetup!

1.Introduction

From August 6 to August 8, 2025, BNUZH-China participated in the 12th China Bio-Genetic Engineering Machine Exchange Conference (CCiC) in Beijing. This event provided a chance for us to showcase our project and share valuable experience with each other, get a deeper connection with other teams.

2.Project Presentation and Round-table discussion

On August 8, our team shared the project “iRIS: A Bio Synthesis Ode to Van Gogh’ s Irises”. We introduced an improved RGB photosensitive system into E. coli to control the production of indigo and halogenase with red, green and blue light, and to synthesize other colored dyes such as indigo and 6-bromoindigo. At that time, the experimental part has successfully synthesized indigo.

During these days, we also joined lots of Round-table discussions about synthetic biology. For instance, Keynote Talk “Programming Rality by Programming Biology” made us learn about Cutting-edge protein purification technology and the dialogue "Rewriting the Perception Structure: The Aesthetic Variation of the Age of Life Technology" promotes our deep understanding of the connection between life, technology and art, and brings theoretical support and artistic perfection to our project.

3.Building Connection

The meeting provided a platform for teams to strengthen bonds and cooperate friendly.

During discussions with BNU-China, they explained this phenomenon through a mobile phone flashlight example: When the light source is close enough to the fabric, the pixel size becomes comparable to the human eye's resolution limit. This principle allows hardware designers to bypass complex lens group designs while maintaining optimal illumination.

What’s more, the methods BIT-China adopted to control the growing conditions inspired our hardware design deeply.

We also exchanged experiences with NAU-CHINA on the shared blue light control system for our projects. Additionally, we incorporated constructive suggestions from SUSTech-BIO and Tongji-China on hardware aspects, striving to enhance the project's narrative comprehensively.